Cerity Partners LLC Reduces Stock Position in The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG)

Cerity Partners LLC decreased its stake in shares of The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 71,276 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 277 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in The Carlyle Group were worth $3,580,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CG. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd grew its stake in shares of The Carlyle Group by 23,688.4% during the 4th quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 30,687 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,549,000 after purchasing an additional 30,558 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in The Carlyle Group by 65.9% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,091,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $55,132,000 after buying an additional 433,879 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of The Carlyle Group by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 487,419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,610,000 after acquiring an additional 71,854 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC grew its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 17,408 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $879,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the period. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd raised its holdings in The Carlyle Group by 301.1% in the 4th quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 31,395 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,585,000 after purchasing an additional 23,567 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on CG. Citigroup reduced their price target on The Carlyle Group from $55.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wolfe Research raised shares of The Carlyle Group from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of The Carlyle Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Barclays decreased their price target on The Carlyle Group from $55.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on The Carlyle Group from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.06.

The Carlyle Group Price Performance

CG stock opened at $36.23 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.26. The Carlyle Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.02 and a 52 week high of $57.50. The company has a quick ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.72.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.08). The Carlyle Group had a return on equity of 24.02% and a net margin of 18.81%. Analysts anticipate that The Carlyle Group Inc. will post 4.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Carlyle Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. The Carlyle Group’s payout ratio is 50.36%.

The Carlyle Group Profile

The Carlyle Group Inc is an investment firm specializing in direct and fund of fund investments. Within direct investments, it specializes in management-led/ Leveraged buyouts, privatizations, divestitures, strategic minority equity investments, structured credit, global distressed and corporate opportunities, small and middle market, equity private placements, consolidations and buildups, senior debt, mezzanine and leveraged finance, and venture and growth capital financings, seed/startup, early venture, emerging growth, turnaround, mid venture, late venture, PIPES.